Regime change
Ah, how my life has changed now that GB is out of the country! Just before he left, he said: "I suppose this is the last time the radio will be tuned to Virgin for a while?" And how right he is.
Summary of the changes I have already observed:
(i) Radio habits
When GB's at home, the radio is tuned to Virgin and left on for most of the day, until the ridiculously limited playlist finally pushes me over the edge and I do one of those ranty middle-aged things: storming across the room, flicking the off switch with a vicious snap, and shouting "Will you just SHUT UP!". Well, anyone could be driven to that if they had to listen to that ludicrious punk-rocker/flowers in hair song played 57 times per day (and for your information, Ms Sandi Thom, the only way to stay in touch was not "a letter in the mail". They had telephones back then too, you know).
Now he's not here, listening habits are a mix of the delightful, uplifting, amusing and informative, from Radios 3, 4 and 7. Although the last of these (BBC7) I have to listen to via the internet, since GB blew up my digital radio by plugging in the wrong power lead. Anyway, let's move on to....
...(ii) Television (or the curse of the goggle box)
GB is an expert at watching tv. He can put it on as background, and then get on with other things - particularly in ad breaks. This doesn't work for me. Once it goes on, I am trapped in its tractor beam and cannot escape. Hence, now he is away, the tv stays off. I tried putting it on last night, but it failed to grab my attention and I Switched Off The TV Set And Went And Did Something Better Instead. As they used to say on Why Don't You.
(iii) Laundry
Now we come to the first change for the worse. The laundry fairy that used to magically move my scrumpled clothes from the laundry basket to the bed in the spare room, rendering them fragrant and clean in the process, appears to have deserted me in my hour of need. I have tried leaving out little dishes of sugar water to tempt it back (is that what fairies eat?), but to no avail. I will have to ask GB if he has seen her recently - I am worried that she has got trapped in GB's suitcase and inadvertantly transported to Tashkent.
(iv) Driving seat
Heh heh heh. Not only do I get to sit in the driving seat - formerly a treat reserved for when GB had taken a small libation - but also I get to leave it in the "dwarf" position without getting nagged. Still, am missing the enjoyable sight of GB getting wedged between the seat and steering wheel when I forget to put the seat back for him...
(v) Shopping
I had to buy some bedding for the spare room yesterday. And I did so in my favourite faffy style that would have left GB foaming at the mouth, rolling his eyes, and generally looking like someone in the advanced stages of some kind of fit.
First I went to John Lewis. I looked at some of the bedding there - quite nice, perhaps a bit pricey, will the pattern look ok in that room? So I went on to M&S, then Heals, then Habitat. And indulged in what GB would term "drifts into Beanyworld" (i.e. wandering around inappropriate departments or shops which I have no real intention of purchasing from: Perhaps I need some cushions to put on the bed? What about a nice side lamp for the dining room? Goodness, there's that rug I liked and it's now in the sale...! Should I possibly get that dining table while it is reduced? That bedding's nice, but have you seen the price???). Eventually, and I'm sure you could see this coming several sentences back, I ended up back in John Lewis buying the set I saw first.
And then got home and realised I'd forgotten (i) single sheets and (ii) single duvets, both of which are required before I can make up the beds.
Dear me, I do miss him.
Summary of the changes I have already observed:
(i) Radio habits
When GB's at home, the radio is tuned to Virgin and left on for most of the day, until the ridiculously limited playlist finally pushes me over the edge and I do one of those ranty middle-aged things: storming across the room, flicking the off switch with a vicious snap, and shouting "Will you just SHUT UP!". Well, anyone could be driven to that if they had to listen to that ludicrious punk-rocker/flowers in hair song played 57 times per day (and for your information, Ms Sandi Thom, the only way to stay in touch was not "a letter in the mail". They had telephones back then too, you know).
Now he's not here, listening habits are a mix of the delightful, uplifting, amusing and informative, from Radios 3, 4 and 7. Although the last of these (BBC7) I have to listen to via the internet, since GB blew up my digital radio by plugging in the wrong power lead. Anyway, let's move on to....
...(ii) Television (or the curse of the goggle box)
GB is an expert at watching tv. He can put it on as background, and then get on with other things - particularly in ad breaks. This doesn't work for me. Once it goes on, I am trapped in its tractor beam and cannot escape. Hence, now he is away, the tv stays off. I tried putting it on last night, but it failed to grab my attention and I Switched Off The TV Set And Went And Did Something Better Instead. As they used to say on Why Don't You.
(iii) Laundry
Now we come to the first change for the worse. The laundry fairy that used to magically move my scrumpled clothes from the laundry basket to the bed in the spare room, rendering them fragrant and clean in the process, appears to have deserted me in my hour of need. I have tried leaving out little dishes of sugar water to tempt it back (is that what fairies eat?), but to no avail. I will have to ask GB if he has seen her recently - I am worried that she has got trapped in GB's suitcase and inadvertantly transported to Tashkent.
(iv) Driving seat
Heh heh heh. Not only do I get to sit in the driving seat - formerly a treat reserved for when GB had taken a small libation - but also I get to leave it in the "dwarf" position without getting nagged. Still, am missing the enjoyable sight of GB getting wedged between the seat and steering wheel when I forget to put the seat back for him...
(v) Shopping
I had to buy some bedding for the spare room yesterday. And I did so in my favourite faffy style that would have left GB foaming at the mouth, rolling his eyes, and generally looking like someone in the advanced stages of some kind of fit.
First I went to John Lewis. I looked at some of the bedding there - quite nice, perhaps a bit pricey, will the pattern look ok in that room? So I went on to M&S, then Heals, then Habitat. And indulged in what GB would term "drifts into Beanyworld" (i.e. wandering around inappropriate departments or shops which I have no real intention of purchasing from: Perhaps I need some cushions to put on the bed? What about a nice side lamp for the dining room? Goodness, there's that rug I liked and it's now in the sale...! Should I possibly get that dining table while it is reduced? That bedding's nice, but have you seen the price???). Eventually, and I'm sure you could see this coming several sentences back, I ended up back in John Lewis buying the set I saw first.
And then got home and realised I'd forgotten (i) single sheets and (ii) single duvets, both of which are required before I can make up the beds.
Dear me, I do miss him.
posted by OboeJane at 10:53 am
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